“Almost Human” takes a unique angle on crime show television


photo courtesy of fox.com

Anjali Khanna

Directed by J. H. Wyman, Fox’s brand new show “Almost Human,” features John Kennex, a police officer attempting to free the world of crime with his trusty side kick, Dorian. At a first glance, the show appears to be modeled after every other crime show known to man. However, unlike most shows which fall under the crime television category, Wyman has turned Dorian into a robot Android who serves police officers in combat, setting the scene 35 years into the future where crime has risen 400 percent.

“Almost Human,” is a show which balances on the line between crime show and utter science fiction, two categories which are not often mixed. Expecting blatantly unrealistic aspects of the show, I was pleasantly surprised that Wyman was able to make the plot so believable.

The show begins with John Kennex, played by Karl Urban, having a flashback from years in the past, when his entire squad was killed by gang members of an unknown organization. After being deemed mentally unstable in the aftermath of the attack, Kennex was discharged, and he sought the care of an untrained doctor to help him regain his memory of the attack.

When the unknown organization made a reappearance years later, Kennex was called back into action, and finally ended up working with a robot Android which was previously determined to be defective, Dorian (Michael Ealy).

The new series may be a hit for Fox after all, despite the two week delay of the series premiere, which was originally set to Nov. 4. The plot of the series is much like a stereotypical crime show, yet is refreshing in the sense that Wyman created a whole new futuristic world in which the characters can solve crimes.

Amidst the combat shots of Urban’s character in action, Wyman managed to sneak in nuances of this futuristic world in scenes where the characters are not in combat. Kennex and Dorian travel through the futuristic city in which high-tech cars and buildings can be seen in the background, and Kennex uses a touchscreen-like apparatus as his personal computer.

Overall, the plot of “Almost Human,” is not unlike crime shows on the air before. However, because of the plot setting chosen by Wyman, the show takes a unique angle on the “partners-in-justice” archetype previously seen in other shows.